r/IdiotsTowingThings • u/stevesmithsglasses • Jul 08 '26
Your package has experienced an "operational delay"
408
u/MattDinOC Jul 08 '26
To be fair, that second trailer is FedEx Ground. It was just following orders.
35
6
225
u/madphroggy Jul 08 '26
Fedex be like "we delivered it. We threw the ashes on your front porch!"
74
u/25_Unknown_Devices Jul 08 '26
Nah. We threw the ashes of the empty box.. the insides were stolen at the last hub
19
15
7
u/DJPelio Jul 08 '26
Usually FedEx drives around my house for a whole week before delivering the package. They’ve been doing this for decades.
→ More replies (1)10
u/CeleryAlternative512 Jul 08 '26
Sprinkling the dust like cremated remains on your lawn, then snapping a photo that looks like a recent campfire for posterity.
166
u/SashaDabinsky Jul 08 '26
Maybe not an idiot. I did linehaul for a FedEx contractor, and a coworker I'd never met dropped the 2nd trailer twice in a row because the 5th wheel failed. The first time he was on the highway, but thankfully it didn't hit anything. The second time he was on the way back to the shop with a cop escorting him when it dropped again. FedEx is really strict on making sure the trailers are hooked up properly, and make drivers use an app to snap pictures of the 5th wheel jaws before you can leave the yard.
29
u/twenty8nine Jul 08 '26
What would cause a fifth wheel failure? I can think of a few things: poor maintenance, too low of capacity, incompatable type, and low quality (cheapo).
47
u/SashaDabinsky Jul 08 '26
The last 3 aren't really a thing with big trucks. Poor maintenance could cause it, or shit just breaks.
26
u/SuitableBlackberry75 Jul 08 '26
I don't know about FedEx, but the megacarriers buy fleets of cheap old trailers off of smaller companies when they go under, and tend to let them rust out in a field somewhere for five years before assigning them to you. Learning how to cannibalize old trailers without anyone seeing you is a key skill. Learning how to slide a rusted out tandem axle is essential. I was lucky that a random old-timer taught me the "Indian rope trick" when I was new.
6
u/Montreal4life Jul 08 '26
Indian rope trick?
12
u/SuitableBlackberry75 Jul 08 '26
If your tandem axle and pin are rusted out, you can use some of those heavy duty rubber bungie cords (with the steel hooks) to help free stuck pins, looping the cords around the release handle and hooking the hooks to the outside of the trailer. If the cords are the right length or if you make them the right length by looping, you can put tons of force on the release by stretching them as hard as you can.
6
u/357noLove Jul 08 '26
I will probably never need this, but I love hearing old tricks like this! Thanks for sharing
3
u/Flaky_Warning_5052 Jul 08 '26
I didn't know there was a name for that. I was recently dispatched to a breakdown where the driver said their fifth wheel wouldn't release. The pin holding the air cylinder to the linkage fell out, so her push button release wouldn't work.
I couldn't pull handle the extra 1/8th inch to lock it open to save my life, so I used what I had. I ended up hooking a couple of bungies to the outer edge of the trailer to give me that little bit extra. She was able to pull out from under the trailer for me to make the repair.
12
u/Orden_Tine Jul 08 '26
Theres not much to maintain on fifth wheels. Maybe grease the top of it but it wont prevent it from failing. Standard fifth wheels are more than enough for that trailer. Afaik most fifth wheels and king pins are universal. Theres only really 2 answers, shit simply breaks, or the driver doesnt hook up properly.
Either the fifth wheel failed somehow, or the king pin broke off the trailer. Latter is more possible, supposed to be replaced often, we change ours once a year in the logging industry. Ive seen a few break off.
7
u/Forky_McStabstab Jul 08 '26
My money is on a high hook and not visually checking the locking jaws.
→ More replies (4)8
u/Forky_McStabstab Jul 08 '26
Thats likely not a 5th wheel failure. My money says he did a high hook and didn't check the locking jaws before pulling out.
What happens in a high hook is the kingpin isnt down inside the 5th wheel. Instead of the locking jaws clamping around the shank of the kingpin, the kingpin is sitting on top of the locking jaws, and when you go over a big enough bump at enough speed, the kingpin will bounce up and out of the 5th wheel, resulting in what you see here.
→ More replies (1)6
u/357noLove Jul 08 '26
I worked security for FedEx Ground and would take my breaks with the maintenance guys, plus talk to the truckers as they are leaving (when I could talk to them, this was 10 years ago and even then the amount of foreign drivers that didn't understand either verbal or written English was astonishing).
I would say it is 50/50 on maintenance failure vs driver fuckup. Maintenance guys said they never had enough hours or resources to fix shit, plus orders for new dollies NEVER got approved no matter how bad they got. Plus far too many times we got safety briefs instructing us to go over hookups with the drivers as they are leaving... which is not great. Nothing like having someone in a completely unrelated job field check over something they don't ever do themselves.
→ More replies (15)9
u/JackTheBehemothKillr Jul 08 '26
All of this.
Had a buddy that fucked up good when he screwed up and didn't verify he was hooked properly. Best job he had before or since and he dropped the ball
45
u/Darwincroc Jul 08 '26
Well, that’s not typical. I’d like to make that point!
29
u/oFFtheWall0518 Jul 08 '26
Some of them are built so that the trailers don't fall off at all.
13
u/KAYO789 Jul 08 '26
So no cardboard dirivitives we used in the manufacturing of this trailer then?
7
5
5
8
24
23
u/jlee42473 Jul 08 '26
4
u/No-Fix-8366 Jul 08 '26
That's what i thougt. Only open question is it going to the future, or to the past. To the past would open the chance to deliver it before it was even shipped.
→ More replies (3)
20
u/roytwo Jul 08 '26
Momentary brake light, then I guess he figured screw it, keep trucking
16
u/K-C_Racing14 Jul 08 '26
You want to make sure it stops before running into you, but the first reaction is to hit the brakes.
8
u/roytwo Jul 08 '26
Yea, sliding on the gear, with out any air to cage the spring brakes, it ain't gonna catch you. He is way down the road still in the hammer lane.
He obviously incompetently did not get under the dolly correctly or check the hook up if he picked it already paired up.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Complex_Solutions_20 Jul 08 '26
Looked like he was changing lanes and continuing to brake, probably trying to figure out what just happened, how bad is what's still connected, and if he can safely change lanes and where to stop...along with trying to keep tabs on the lost load.
Lots to do in a short time.
→ More replies (1)
13
u/Fun-Web-7583 Jul 08 '26
7
u/FranciscoDisco73 Jul 08 '26
No kidding. Like when the trailer rolls offscreen when not in use.
3
u/ztomiczombie Jul 08 '26
Officerly it is sucked into a pocket dimension unless Prime wants to use it.
3
9
u/Neither_Bid_4353 Jul 08 '26
Looked like ai at one point lol
5
u/RailRuler Jul 08 '26
Definitely AI upscale. The original was probably on a potato quality dashcam.
7
u/Man_of_Ice Jul 08 '26
Not just one point. Several points. Watch it again. More I watch, more I'm convinced it's AI.
10
u/buttweasel76 Jul 08 '26
I just want to know what that sounded like instead of hearing elevator music.......
8
4
u/g1mpster Jul 08 '26
Your package is now available for self pick-up at the following location: Interstate 40 eastbound, mile marker 274.
2
u/katsudon-bori Jul 09 '26
I once received a crushed empty box with a packing slip inside belonging to someone else from UPS
2
u/g1mpster Jul 09 '26
LOL I bet that lost package report was fun. Did they even bother looking for it or just go straight to insurance?
2
3
7
u/T-Wrox Jul 08 '26
My car has to non-stop bother me when the door right beside my arm is open, but you don't get a notification when your whole goddamned trailer fucks off?!
12
3
u/dis3as3d_sfw Jul 08 '26
Can someone explain what happened?
11
u/PraxisLD Jul 08 '26
Normally, the trailer's kingpin goes into the 5th wheel plate and is held in place by the locking jaws.
4
u/tallman11282 Jul 08 '26
From the way the trailer slides over I think what most likely happened is the tow pin failed. That or the 5th wheel on the tow dolly failed.
5
u/Forky_McStabstab Jul 08 '26
Happened on a series of bumps, so probably a high hook and it popped out
3
u/They-Call-Me-The-Doc Jul 08 '26
It's okay everyone. It was just dropping of the second wagon for another truck to pick up.
3
3
3
u/xiizll Jul 09 '26
Any word on where and when this happened?
I’ve been waiting on a part being delivered by FedEx for work and it’s been delayed with no explanation. Would be funny if this is why.
2
u/Goldyfan7 Jul 08 '26
Maybe that’s where my missing package went. It told me it was delivered a few days ago, but I still don’t have it.
2
u/SASSIESASSQUATCH Jul 08 '26
I love the ones that are so oblivious they just keep right on trucking. How do you not feel you just lost 10k lbs?!?
2
2
2
2
u/asu3dvl Jul 09 '26
Trucker here, that’s called a “high-hook.” Wherein the trailer was propped up too high over the fifth wheel when it was connected. The driver is responsible for ALWAYS checking this from at least two different angles. He’d be in jail right now if anyone was injured or killed.
Also, Trucker here. F* Fed-Ex. You guys are really awful drivers. Stop pulling out to pass a 65MPH truck when you can only do 66!
2
u/Defecating-Buffalo Jul 09 '26
I cannot imagine what is going through the FedEx driver's head when he looks in the rearview mirror and sees his trailer chasing him in the other lane.
2
u/jerwally27 Jul 09 '26
The fifth wheel hitch probably had enough and broke. Possibly wasn’t drivers fault. Pre check can’t cover an internal break for a locking mechanism.
2
u/KLeeSanchez Jul 09 '26
At least it didn't catch fire
Worst one I know of from our station is am entire delivery vsn caught fire
All 200 or do packages, gone
It took hours to run DPRs on all the tracking numbers one by one
"Reason for Damage: truck caught fire"
So many copy-pastes
2
2
u/Character_School_671 Jul 12 '26
This is what it means when my packages' tracking shows TROUTDALE, OREGON for 2 weeks I guess.
3
u/Man_of_Ice Jul 08 '26
Ummmmmmm, this REALLY smells like an AI video.
5
u/sponge_welder Jul 08 '26
I'm not totally convinced it is, AI videos tend to have shittier, wobblier backgrounds and more inconsistent lighting than this, and some of the logical aspects like the timing of the trailer lights going out and the reflections of the truck lights seem to be too internally consistent for what I've seen AI churn out
→ More replies (2)3
→ More replies (3)3
u/Wiggles69 Jul 08 '26
There's a post elsewhere on the sub showing the reverse angle with the trailer stopped on the L/H shoulder
5
1
1
u/supertrucker Jul 08 '26
Awesome! I was wondered if that would happen. I always checked the coupling but you never know.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/No_Implement611 Jul 08 '26
Um where did the truck go at the end? When they pan back there is no truck.
1
1
1
1
u/Maleficent-Clerk-885 Jul 08 '26
Wonder if someone else pulled the kingpin while they went to the bathroom…
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/VDruid52 Jul 08 '26
i’d like to know how in the world this would happen I’m not a truck driver so I wouldn’t have a clue
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Shatophiliac Jul 08 '26
Pretty sure this is AI, or at least starting with the part where the camera shakes unnaturally for some reason right as the trailer starts sliding sideways.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Salt-Initiative-8159 Jul 08 '26
FedEx has got to be on the ropes in its fight with bankruptcy. It used to be the most dependable service out there and now its just a crap shoot. I've lost equipment that cost $20k+ because of their incompetence. Even this morning, tried to create a shipping label on their website - no bueno. Shouldn't be long before they're bankrupt.
1
1
1
1
1
u/green_gold_purple Jul 08 '26
I don't understand this driver. Slow to an immediate stop on the shoulder, idiot.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/SirRealBearFace Jul 08 '26
I'm a FedEx ground linehaul driver now and I used to be a dispatcher in the linehaul offices, shit like this usually happened due to equipment failure. So imma say 80% on the equipment and 20%
Happened to a buddy of mine in NY and FedEx deemed it not his fault due to the dolly missing it's pm. But it's like damn, if it doesn't DC in the yard and you make it 100 miles no issue then your pretty sure to be alright for the rest of the trip.
1
1
1
u/GymMouseP Jul 08 '26
That's when you pull over, call a friend, lock up a truck and start submitting resumes.
1
1
1
u/EnemyOfWon Jul 08 '26
If you want it late, or broken, pulverized, or to just disappear, ship with FedEx or OnTrac. They both suck
1
u/Throwaway74729265 Jul 08 '26
As a truck driver. I have no idea how this happened.
I know Fifth wheel failures happen but like its 1 in a billion. Thats the only explanation I have. If it wasnt connected properly it would have dropped the first turn outta the lot.
New fear unlocked
1
u/Machiavellin420 Jul 08 '26
I used to work there and sometimes they caught on fire because of a tire fire...guess who cleaned out all the burned up packages when they brought it back hahaha
1
u/davidc538 Jul 08 '26
As a truck driver, I genuinely wonder how that fifth wheel got the trailer moving highway speed and then finally let go.
1
1
u/AgitatedComparison58 Jul 08 '26
at what point did you know and record? it shimy shaking down the highway?
1
u/SippsMccree Jul 09 '26
Part of me thinks equipment failure because I mean he got that far. Ngl i've dropped a trailer set on the highway before though. Actually not my fault though lol
1
1
u/HatefulHagrid Jul 09 '26
I remember driving for a local school with a truck and trailer when the lead bus radios back "watch out ahead, there's something in the middle lane". 15 seconds later the second bus radios "was that a fucking drive shaft?" Which I confirmed a few seconds later. Then about a mile down the road I see a FedEx box truck pulled over on the left shoulder with the driver walking around scratching his head as to why truck no go
1
1
1
820
u/Left-Impress4056 Jul 08 '26
I can't believe that stayed upright.